Critic Reviews

I was awfully worried when I heard they were making another Star Trek game. I knew Bethesda had already released Encounters for the PS2 and Tactics for the PSP, but we didn’t get to play either of those, so I was going in unprepared when I loaded up Star Trek: Legacy.

Does this make the game horrible? No, not by a long shot. Legacy is fun despite these nagging issues if only by virtue of giving you the ability to control a task force of slick-looking futuristic starships all over the galaxy. And with an interesting story that spans the entirety of the Star Trek timeline and a fairly robust multiplayer, there's plenty of incentive to play. For all its flaws, Legacy deserves recognition as a commendable and entertaining attempt at capturing the essence of Star Trek's grandiose combat.

Star Trek: Legacy is a decent Star Trek game for the Xbox 360. If you are a fan of the series and would like to try a game that spans the entire Star Trek television series then you will want to check this game out. A few flaws prevent this game from becoming a sure-fire hit, but fans of the series will eat this game up.

Despite some noticeable flaws, the Xbox 360 version of Legacy manages to capture the epic feel of Star Trek combat like no other game to date. There's something captivating about watching these stately and beautiful vessels fight and die onscreen, which is something that any Star Trek fan who owns an Xbox 360 should definitely check out.

Overall, Star Trek: Legacy should be a big hit with true Trek fans if for no other reason than the games inclusion of everything Star Trek. In fact, I don’t know of any other title that has ever encompassed as much of the complete Star Trek universe as Legacy does. The attention to detail, coupled with the games outstanding graphic and sound effects help to offset some of Legacy’s weaknesses, but non-Trekkies may want to give this one a rental test-run before committing the cash.

Star Trek: Legacy is the third of three Bethesda-backed Trek games which hit during the 40th anniversary year. Initially the most ambitious, Legacy limped out of the stardock after a handful of delays, making a disastrous arrival on PC. The 360 version soon followed and proved the PC owners right—the PC version is a bad port of a good 360 game with some problems (no in-mission saves being a big one). While PC gamers enjoy the commercial beta, here's what 360 owners can expect.

First things first, however - the storytelling and voice acting make the game an absolute joy to take in. While the title may have its downsides, the most positive point and the one facet that keeps you playing is the presentation in terms of plot development and voice acting. Scott Bakula, Patrick Stewart, William Shatner, Avery Brooks and Kate Mulgrew are all present and willing to add their own dramatic flair to the various captains that they played in their respective shows.

The Xbox 360 version of Star Trek Legacy has managed to erase some (but not a lot) of the disappointment of the PC version. Given that the starship combat offerings on the 360 aren't quite as numerous as they are on the PC, the console version naturally stands out a bit more. Honestly, if you want a Star Trek game and all you have is a 360, this is pretty much your only hope. Gamers who have a gaming PC may find it worthwhile to try older and more satisfying titles like Bridge Commander.

In the end I can only recommend Star Trek Legacy to a big Trek fan. Repetitive gameplay, uninspired voice acting, and bland scenery won’t be able to compensate for the true to Trek gameplay and ship designs and details to most gamers. For those that are into the Trek mythos, Legacy is worth giving a shot as long as expectations are held in check and you understand what kind of game you will be getting… a solid but unspectacular space combat sim.

Ultimately, Star Trek: Legacy is remindful of the story of the Enterprise herself — a pristine, well-manned, well-intentioned vessel that sets out to break new ground for gaming but ultimately encounters strange nebulae and forces that disable her systems from time to time. Visually, Star Trek: Legacy impresses, with impressive ship models making near-perfect representations of the vessels, which very nearly serve as the characters of the game itself. At the same time, the lack of ship customization is a major omission. Online play provides a good diversion, but without any campaign co-op to speak of, it feels relatively empty. For every redeeming quality Legacy serves up, a mediocre one seems alongside it, but none more than a tiring, complicated control template that will scare away anyone who isn't a die-hard fan of the show.

While Legacy is far from a great game, you could argue that you can see within it a great game dying to break out. With improvements to the A.I. and presentation, Bethesda could be onto something with this simplified "squad-based" style to starship combat. Perhaps a sequel, or a follow-up game, could match the quality of the gameplay to that of the storyline and voice work. That said, while those looking for a good strategy game will be disappointed, Trek fans will certainly get plenty out of it.

With a bit more bug fixing and attention paid to the AI, Star Trek Legacy could've been a fantastic strategy game. Without those things, though, it just becomes a sad gameplay letdown and a disappointing presentation for what could've been a great narrative link from one era to the next.

A badly designed and frustrating interface hampers this game. Star Trek fans will enjoy the look of the game, the variety of ships and the familiar voices, but actually playing the game won’t be much fun.

The PC version of Star Trek Legacy is among the most disappointing games of the year. Putting aside any expectations you might have with regard to the Star Trek license or any past associations with games like Starfleet Command, Klingon Academy or Bridge Commander, Star Trek Legacy simply cannot stand on its own as an entertaining or satisfying experience.

It seems like a can't-lose proposition: A Star Trek game, arriving in the year of the franchise's 40th anniversary and featuring nothing but glorious starship combat, as well as the voices of all five Star Trek captains. That sounds like paradise to Trek fans starved after an unexpected hiatus of new games over the past several years. However, if you're a Trek fan, prepare to have your hopes dashed. Star Trek: Legacy limps out of development like the Excelsior trying to chase the Enterprise in The Search for Spock. It's practically broken in some places, and if that weren't enough, it's plagued with other serious issues, as well.

Star Trek fans may take comfort in the fact that there's an engaging storyline to be experienced, coupled with the voice talents of the well-known cast. Apart from that, it's hard to find any lasting qualities here. The game is challenging enough to make you play for a few hours, but it seems that some slip-ups in overall design have easily diminished all hopes of undertaking a highly immersive and profound space adventure. If it weren't for the technical mishaps and awkward gameplay mechanics, this game would've been a worthy addition to the Star Trek universe.

Legacy looks great and sounds great, it has a few good hooks and a solid story to tell, but it fails on most levels to be a compelling experience. Maybe this game will really connect with the kind of Trekkie who loves every show and minutia of the universe, but it isn’t quite fun or tight enough to beam aboard.

The best way I can summarize Star Trek: Legacy is that it is a game of great conflicts. What one sees on the surface is some great, if not massive potential; since we’ve already seen the Star Trek universe from so many angles, the average fan can’t help but be intrigued to see how modern-day technology is applied to put the series in a new direction – not to mention all of the possibilities and lessons learned by the modding community and the desires of the fanbase. However, upon actually obtaining the game and breaking past the shrink-wrapped interior to examine the real crux of the title, I found that Star Trek: Legacy is not only lacking, but effectively trips over itself at every possible opportunity.

As a whole, Legacy is quite a letdown. While similar games like Bridge Commander or the Starfleet Command series were far from perfect themselves, they at least offered some reasonable challenge and were capable of effectively immersing one into the Star Trek universe. Legacy fails to accomplish either of those things pretty much across the board, while simultaneously annoying and confusing players over and over again. Legacy is probably not worth looking at by any but the most ardent Star Trek fans. Just be prepared for disappointment.

Star Trek: Legacy is worth playing through on a lazy weekend if you're a die-hard convention-going Star Trek fan, the game's target audience. After all, you can tell your Starfleet uniform-wearing friends at Meeting Hall D about how cool it was to listen to Jean-Luc Picard recount how he first became a starship captain. If you're not the sort to keep a replica Tribble on your desk at home, then it's much harder to justify a purchase. There was great potential with Star Trek: Legacy, and the foundation has been laid for a truly stellar game. But the end result feels rushed and that potential still remains untapped.

Unless you already have an emotional attachment to the Star Trek universe, and feel a cheeky little frisson down there at the prospect of pretending to be Kirk, there's no reason at all to put up with the unresponsive controls, shallow gameplay and absolutely infuriating inability to save during an hour-long mission. With the game's appeal thus reduced to those faithful fans still willing to suffer in the name of brand loyalty, it remains an impossible game to recommend without serious caveats. There are glimmers of excitement, moments where narrative and music combine in such a way that your fondness is rekindled, but only the most fanatical devotee could claim it's an entertaining journey to reach them.

William Shatner is 75 years old. He looks great for his age, but let's face facts: the odds of getting him to perform as Captain Kirk again in a Star Trek production that includes all five captains from the long-running series are just about nil. That's only one of the many, many missed opportunities on display in Star Trek: Legacy, a tragically mediocre space combat game. It didn't have to be that way. This game could have been the be all and end all for Trek fans and action gamers alike instead of the sad capstone to a long history of crappy licensed video games.

Not only does it look sub-par and suffer the worst control flaws I've ever encountered, but its overall pacing is slow, it suffers continuity flaws (Chief Engineer Trip is referred to by name in voice-overs, despite the tiny detail of his death in events that take place prior to the setting of Star Trek: Legacy), and it doesn't even have a save system! There have been two patches already released which, in and of itself, is a testament to the state of this software upon release. Neither of these patches seems to have done a thing to fix the flaws that make this such a wretched experience, either. If this is the kind of quality we can expect from Bethesda Softworks outside of the Elder Scrolls franchise, then I think my enthusiasm for their take on Fallout just took a pretty major hit.